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DEFENDING THE BRIDE
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THE ROSARY
MYSTERIES OF LIGHT
Index Card with Luminous Mysteries
Reflections
Bible Verses
Rosary Schedule
Essential Must Read Quotations from Pope’s Letter
on Rosary
Promoting the Rosary and the Holy Father’s new
letter on it
Reflections on
The Mysteries of
Light - The Luminous Mysteries
(Unofficial personal suggestions by webmaster)
1. The Baptism of Jesus
Matthew 3: 17
"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
My self worth is based on the truth that as an adopted brother of
Christ I too, am a beloved disciple. [Jn 19:26] A healthy self
esteem based on that frees me from the need for human recognition or glory.
Fruit: Humility. - A desire to
follow Jesus.
2. Jesus’s Self Manifestation
at the Wedding of Cana
Trust in God for our needs. Trust in Mary’s intercession.
Mary’s motherly instructions, "Do whatever He tells you."
Fruit: Obedience
- Even when we do not understand
3. Proclamation of the
Kingdom of God, with His call to Conversion
Mark 1:38
"Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there
also. For this purpose have I come."
As Christ’s disciple, I also have a mission in this life that only I can do. First and foremost, my mission is to turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ. I was made to know, love and follow Jesus Christ in this life, and to be eternally happy with Him in the next.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me.
Come Lord Savior, Come.
Fruit: An increased desire to have God’s
Truth proclaimed at all times and in all places. [Mission, Responsibility]
4. Jesus’s Transfiguration
Fruit: Adoring God because of His beauty
5. Institution of the Eucharist
The intimacy and depth of God’s love has no limits.
Fruit: A desire for Jesus
Bible Verses For The Mysteries of Light
1. The Baptism of Jesus
Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized
by him.
John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you,
and yet you are coming to me?" Jesus said to him in reply,
"Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."
Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the
water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a
voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom
I am well pleased."
2. Jesus’s Self Manifestation at the Wedding of Cana
John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the
mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited
to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said
to him, "They have no wine." (And) Jesus said to her, "Woman,
how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother
said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." Now there were six
stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty
to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water." So
they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Draw some out now
and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it. And when the headwaiter
tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from
(although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called
the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then
when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good
wine until now." Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in
Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe
in him.
3. Proclamation of the
Kingdom of God, with His call to Conversion
Mark 1:15
"This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Mark 1:34-38
He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove
out many demons, … Rising very early before dawn, he left and went
off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were
with him pursued him
and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you."
He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach
there also. For this purpose have I come."
John 20:22-23
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven
them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
4. Jesus’s Transfiguration
Luke 9:28-35
About eight days after he said this, he took Peter, John, and James
and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed
in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold,
two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory
and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
[ 32 Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming
fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
33 As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master,
it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one
for Moses, and one for Elijah." But he did not know what he was saying.
]
34 While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over
them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then
from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to
him."
John 1:3-5
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through
him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines
in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 3:19-21
And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but
people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward
the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives
the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as
done in God.
John 8:12
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of
life."
5. Institution of the Eucharist
"A final mystery of light is the institution of the Eucharist, in
which Christ offers his body and blood as food under the signs of bread
and wine, and testifies ‘to the end’ his love for humanity
(Jn 13:1), for whose salvation he will offer himself in sacrifice."
(From Pope John Paul II’s Apost. Lt. Rosarium Virginis Mariae )
Matthew 26:26-28
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke
it, and giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body."
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from
it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed
on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.
John 6:48-58
I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the
desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so
that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came
down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread
that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The
Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his)
flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do
not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh
is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father
sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds
on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down
from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats
this bread will live forever."
(See a Catholic’s response to Protestant objections to Transubstantiation.)
Rosary Schedule
The Rosary is a private devotion that is highly encouraged by the
Church. We may pray any or all of the mysteries on any day, but the
Church suggests the following schedule for those who wish to pray five
mysteries each day. (RVM section 38.)
Monday, Saturday - Joyful Mysteries
Tuesday, Friday - Sorrowful
Mysteries
Wednesday, Sunday - Glorious Mysteries
Thursday
- Luminous Mysteries -The Mysteries of Light
On Sunday we celebrate what happen on Easter Sunday, the Resurrection.
On Thursday we celebrate what happened on Holy Thursday, the Last
Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist by Jesus Christ.
If a person wishes to say all twenty decades then the following order
is suggested,
Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and the Glorious. (RVM section
19.)
Essential Must Read Quotations from
Pope John Paul II’s Letter on the Rosary
ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE
[Excerpts. Short list of excerpts below.
For a long list that that explains in more detail how the Rosary is
Christ centered see:
Long
list of excerpts.]
The timeliness of this proposal is evident from a number of considerations.
First, the urgent need to counter a certain crisis of the Rosary, which
in the present historical and theological context can risk being wrongly
devalued, and therefore no longer taught to the younger
generation. ...
[T]he family, the primary cell of society, increasingly menaced by
forces of disintegration on both the ideological and practical planes,
so as to make us fear for the future of this fundamental and indispensable
institution and, with it, for the future of society as a whole. The revival
of the Rosary in Christian families, within the context of a broader pastoral
ministry to the family, will be an effective aid to countering the devastating
effects of this crisis typical of our age.
"Behold, your Mother!" (Jn 19:27) ...
Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ".22 Never as in the Rosary do the life of Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined. Mary lives only in Christ and for Christ! ...
The history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in particular by the Dominicans at a difficult time for the Church due to the spread of heresy. Today we are facing new challenges. Why should we not once more have recourse to the Rosary, with the same faith as those who have gone before us? The Rosary retains all its power and continues to be a valuable pastoral resource for every good evangelizer. ...
[I]t becomes natural to bring to this encounter with the sacred humanity of the Redeemer all the problems, anxieties, labours and endeavours which go to make up our lives. "Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you" (Ps 55:23). To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his Mother. ...
Obviously these mysteries neither replace the Gospel nor exhaust its content. The Rosary, therefore, is no substitute for lectio divina; on the contrary, it presupposes and promotes it. ...
38. ... Where might the "mysteries of light" be inserted? If we consider that the "glorious mysteries" are said on both Saturday and Sunday, and that Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour, the second weekly meditation on the "joyful mysteries", mysteries in which Mary's presence is especially pronounced, could be moved to Saturday. Thursday would then be free for meditating on the "mysteries of light". ...
The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is "our peace" (Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ – and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary – learns the secret of peace and makes it his life's project. …
The family: parents...
41. As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them closer together. It is important not to lose this precious inheritance. We need to return to the practice of family prayer and prayer for families, continuing to use the Rosary. …
The family that prays together stays together. The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. Individual family members, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God.
Many of the problems facing contemporary families, especially in economically developed societies, result from their increasing difficulty in communicating. Families seldom manage to come together, and the rare occasions when they do are often taken up with watching television. To return to the recitation of the family Rosary means filling daily life with very different images, images of the mystery of salvation: the image of the Redeemer, the image of his most Blessed Mother. The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the centre, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on. ...
In a society of advanced technology, of mass communications and globalization, everything has become hurried, and the cultural distance between generations is growing ever greater. The most diverse messages and the most unpredictable experiences rapidly make their way into the lives of children and adolescents, and parents can become quite anxious about the dangers their children face. At times parents suffer acute disappointment at the failure of their children to resist the seductions of the drug culture, the lure of an unbridled hedonism, the temptation to violence, and the manifold expressions of meaninglessness and despair.
To pray the Rosary for children, and even more, with children, training
them from their earliest years to experience this daily "pause for prayer"
with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it
is a spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. It could be objected
that the Rosary seems hardly suited to the taste of children and young
people of today. But perhaps the objection is directed to an impoverished
method of praying it. … If the Rosary is well presented, I am sure that
young people will once more surprise adults by the way they make this prayer
their own and recite it with the enthusiasm typical of their age group.
… through your own personal experience of the beauty of the Rosary, may
you come to promote it with conviction.
[End quotation]
Promoting the Rosary and the Holy Father’s new letter on it.
Many people may not read the whole letter of JPII, not realizing the beauty and depth of it. Therefore, I suggest passing out selected excerpts of it like those listed above. The above excerpts will fit on a one page brochure, a single sheet of paper in the landscape or sideways position. Divide the page into three panels, or columns, on each side. The text will fill up four of the six panels using twelve point Times New Roman font. This will leave two empty panels for a front cover and a back panel. On the front panel, I suggest placing a picture of the Transfiguration and putting the words, "The Mysteries of Light," above it. And I place the words, "Excerpts from Pope John Paul II’s Letter on the Rosary," below it. On the back panel I list the new Mysteries of Light with a short reflection for each.
Or if you wish, the image at the top of this page can be pasted onto
a six by four inch index card. Alternately, you may wish to insert
your own pictures. The text below may be copied and pasted for that
purpose.
The Mysteries of Light - The Luminous Mysteries
Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the "light of the world" (Jn 8:12). Yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of his public life, when he proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom.
1. Baptism in the Jordan
2. His self-manifestation
at the wedding of Cana,
3. His proclamation of
the
Kingdom of God, with
His call to conversion,
4. His Transfiguration
5.Institution of Eucharist
The above image was made using pictures that I found on the internet.
See
St. Peter's Church in Pa.
See Articles at